2014 TV Highlights

December 7, 2014December 7, 2014 | Rachel's Reviews

I thought it might be fun to take a little break from movies and Scrooge for a second to talk about my favorite moments in the world of television this year.

I’m a huge TV fan, which is really strange because my family is not. My parents do not watch a single program on a regular basis, so it is not something I grew up with. For long periods we didn’t even have TV and then the Olympics would come around and I would beg the parents. Please let us get TV! (I love the Olympics!).

As an adult I have embraced it even more and especially with DVR I find it immensely entertaining to get into a show and spend some time with the characters. Unlike a movie where you get 2 hours into a story, a television show you can really get to know people.

I also must add that I try to keep my viewing on a PG-13 level so that cuts out some of the very popular HBO shows such as Game of Thrones (same with Orange is the New Black). I know all of you love it and I respect that but too much violence and nudity for me.

How I Met Your Mother-

The biggest disappointment for the year was without a doubt the finale of my favorite show How I Met Your Mother. I hated it. It undermined the narrative they had been building for 9 years of the great love story between Ted and Tracy and I will never forgive the show for that. Shame on them!

I know it sounds dramatic but it was one of the biggest disappointments in media of my life. I still want to throw something at Carter Bays and Craig Thomas for their lack of respect for all they had created. Urgh….

Mixology-

Mixology was another major low point. What was ABC thinking? It was one of the most disgraceful pieces of media I’ve ever seen. Read my rant on the misogynist junk. (Rape was a punchline in a joke if that tells you anything).

http://smilingldsgirl.com/2014/02/27/tv-modern-women/

Ok. Calming down.

Let’s focus on what I did like.

24: Live Another Day-

24 was back and they managed to craft a very entertaining season with all of the things we love about 24- layers of villains, Jack Bauer outrunning a helicopter, a mole in Jack’s team (maybe 2?), great performances, stunts, action, twists, turns and just a ton of fun.

To me it wasn’t as good as season 5 but I’d put it up there with 2,3 and 4.

Girl Meets World-

I LOVE Boy Meets World. It was a show on TGIF from 1993-2002. The characters were the same age as me and yes it was incredibly corny but it always had its heart in the right place. William Daniels took the acting up a notch from typical teen fair and the relationships between Shawn, Cory, Topanga, Eric and others had real heart to them.

So naturally I was hesitant when I heard a spinoff was in the works called Girl Meets World. Fortunately they got Michael Jacobs producing and most of the same writers back and Danielle Fishel and Ben Savage are back as Cory and Topanga only this time they are the parents of 2 kids Riley (the Girl who meets the world) and adorable Augie.

This first season has been incredibly strong. It has all the cornball elements with all the heart. Now Cory is the Mr Feeny character and Riley’s best friend Maya is the new Shawn Hunter.

We also have Farkle the son of Boy Meets World Minkus and he is great and a more than just for good looks kid named Lucas. It teaches good messages with an engaging cast and humor that works. I love it!

Much like Disney Channel’s Good Luck Charlie it is a show about an entire family, not just a snarky little girl. They all get plotlines and have character development. It’s so refreshing to have something everyone can watch together and enjoy.

Survivor-

Yes, I love me some reality competition. Survivor is about to go into season 30 and while season 29 has been a bit of a let down season 28 was fantastic. One of the best they’ve ever had.

Almost every person was in it to win it and winner Tony was spastic and crazy, building spy shacks, running around the island entertaining us all and being completely brilliant. Never has a more bold player won the game and it was fascinating to watch.

Say what you want about the show the interactions of the contestants and the choices they make are fascinating to me. Why they vote a certain person off? Why they keep another? It’s a very interesting social experiment and game. In the current season the game play is some of the most random I’ve seen which has it’s own level of fascination. It’s amazing with nearly 30 seasons the game never plays out in exactly the same way because you are dealing with people not scriptwriters. It makes it unpredictable and exciting. I’ve always said you could do an interesting class on game theory and use Survivor as your test case. I’d take that class.

What makes Survivor especially fun is I am a patron for RHAP- Rob Has a Podcast which is a community of fellow fans and we talk about the moves and for a girl who works from home it has become my watercooler conversation that I look forward to each day.

Former contestant Rob Cesternino is the R of RHAP and he is engaging and funny, my favorite podcaster (although Rotoscopers Animation Addicts is a close second!). It’s fascinating to me to see the different takes people have on moves and who people bond with and for what reasons, especially in a great season like Cagayan.

Big Brother/Amazing Race-

Survivor is my first love but I also love Amazing Race and watch some Big Brother.

After a lame All Star season, this current season of the Race has been fabulous. The move to Friday has been a good thing and Bethany and Adam are my favorites. What she can do with one arm is truly remarkable to watch and they are just so down to earth. I love them and want them to win so bad!

Really great challenges and likable contestants have made it fun. The Race is fun to watch but not as much of a strategic game as Survivor so not quite as interesting.

Big Brother was an interesting season because it was so dominated by one player. Like Tony, Derrick was bold and incredibly smart at the game. He was never put on the block ever and Big Brother lasts 90 days! That’s pretty amazing. There was one moment where a lie he had told a character had come out and within a 45 minute conversation he had her apologizing to him. That was unbelievable to watch. What a game player! I would get eaten alive by players like that! (Since I was laid up with my knee I watched too much of the live feeds this season. The darn things are addicting and why does everything happen after 2 am in that house!).

Both Tony and Derrick were able to convince their partners to take them to the end when there were clear goats they could have taken. Basically they both convinced 2 people to give them the prize. Fascinating.

What makes me happy is both Tony and Derrick seemed like really good guys and always nice when the good guys win the game.

(Again with the Race and Big Brother my RHAP community make both shows extremely fun).

Downton Abbey-

The only drama I’m really into right now. I know a lot of people have gotten of the Downton train but I’m still on. It was an intense season with Anna’s rape and the effect that has on all the characters.

The acting is so good, sets, costumes top notch and the melodramatic stories work for the kind of stories being told. It was a bummer so many quit the show but they handled as best they could and I am sooo excited for the new season coming in January!

I hope they get back to the lighter feel the show originally had. Yes there was always drama but oddly enough Season 2 with WW1 was not the saddest season. They need a bit more of a balance. I’d also like for them to dive into Thomas’ character more and not just have him be the gay bad guy.

I’ve always found Mary to be a fascinating character because we should hate her but then she does something very likable and so we don’t. It’s great and Mosely, Carson, Daisy and of course the Dowager Countess played by Maggie Smith are all great characters.

So on to season 5!

Sherlock Season 3-

This shows how much I loved the long awaited Sherlock return. It aired February 2014 and I still have it on my DVR 10 months later.

Especially episode 1 and 3 of the season I thought were just about perfect in every way. The ending may be one fake death to many we will see and it is a bit frustrating they never told us what happened to Sherlock but it was brilliant as well. The way we kept getting possibilities of how he might have survived.

The acting is amazing, cinematography perfect and a new villain Charles Magnussen who was chilling and even creepier than Moriarty.

I also loved the plotline with Mary and trying to figure out what kind of mole she was. They give you a huge hint there is something afoot when Holmes first meets her and it was a puzzle the whole series. Brilliant.

As I watched the series I was literally yelling at the scream at times I was so engrossed. I’d put the writing, acting, cinematography up against any Hollywood film. It’s just great.

A to Z-

Well I suppose there is going to be one show I loved which barring a miracle appears to be cancelled. Darn it all American viewers this show is so good!

Featuring Cristin Millioti from HIMYM and Ben Feldman from Drop Dead Diva it’s like a combination of 500 Days of Summer and How I Met Your Mother.

Some of the side characters were a little much but I’m convinced if NBC could just stick with it a little longer it would be a big hit for them.

As a girl who is starving for good romantic comedies, this was one. The leads have terrific chemistry. The story was charming. I hope it can be saved but for now not looking great. 🙁

Goldbergs-

My favorite comedy by a long shot. Especially as a movie lover and a kid from the 80s the humor hits all the nostalgic points but it’s more than that. It’s extremely well written with an appealing cast and great kid actors.

When I first saw it I thought it was a That’s 70’s Show retread in the 80s but it’s not. Wendi McLendon Covey is hilarious as the mother. Jeff Garlin and George Segal steals every scene he is in as the Grandpa who thinks he is Burt Reynolds.

It’s kind of like The Simpsons brought to life with older kids. It’s that smart and fun and warm. Plus, the fact that Adam Goldberg shot all these hours of tapes of his family and a the end of every episode you see clips pertaining to that episode is so cool.

It makes the show feel lived in and real despite it’s craziness. The videos say ‘this is over-the-top but my family was pretty darn close to it’ and that is funny. Plus, you can tell the whole show is a labor of love from writing, directing, acting and everything else. I love it and think it is hilarious.

My favorite episode is Karate from season 1 but season 2 has been great too.

Mindy Project-

A lot of people are down on this show too but I still really like it. It has an engaging cast with pretty good writing and I love the chemistry between Danny and Mindy. The kiss on the plane…holy cow that was a great kiss

and then the ending to last season I am not kidding I might have watched it 45 times. It was perfect. I almost wished the show was over so it could just end there but you know they have actually done a good job with Mindy and Danny as a couple this season. It wasn’t until I saw that finale that I realized how much I miss romantic comedies. I need my sugary romances you guys or I get very gloomy! I need my romantic movies so at least I get it from TV from time to time.

I wish we could hang on to A to Z like they’ve hung on to Mindy Project. Morgan cracks me up every scene he is in. Definitely my favorite character.

Other Shows I Still Love- The Middle, The Simpsons, Big Bang Theory (yes I still like it), Duck Dynasty, Wahlburgers, and Shark Tank. Oh and Dancing with the Stars has had 2 excellent seasons in 2014.

What shows did you like this year? Any I mentioned you a fan of? Any way that’s what I like. Thanks for reading!

Oscars 2014: Best Animated Short Shortlist

December 7, 2014 | Rachel's Reviews

Curious about the animated shorts that are being considered by the Academy. Here’s an itneresting blog about that.

Christmas Movie Season

December 7, 2014 | Rachel's Reviews

As a fellow clinical anxiety sufferer I totally get what she is saying about the lack of control and fear anxiety sufferers face on a daily basis. It might sound little but something as simple as a movie with a hopeful message can help us regain our strength and press forward. Anxiety is just like any other condition. There should be no stigma. But I am so grateful for Christmas and the joy of Christ’s sacrifice that He always understands no matter what.

Scrooge 18: A Christmas Carol (Patrick Stewart)

December 6, 2014December 6, 2014 | Rachel's Reviews

Like your Dickens by the book? Then this is the version for you! Even more than the Disney this version starring Patrick Stewart from 1999 is incredibly faithful to the source material even including segments never shown in other versions. It was made for TNT (kind of amazing it wasn’t even a network) but it has the look of a PBS film for their Masterpiece Theater series. It is incredibly well cast and all in all I kind of love it.

Trailer:

The Cast:

Patrick Stewart – Ebenezer Scrooge
Richard E. Grant – Bob Cratchit
Joel Grey – Ghost of Christmas Past
Ian McNeice – Albert Fezziwig
Saskia Reeves – Mrs. Cratchit
Desmond Barrit – Ghost of Christmas Present
Bernard Lloyd – Jacob Marley
Dominic West – Fred
Trevor Peacock – Old Joe
Liz Smith – Mrs. Dilber
Elizabeth Spriggs – Mrs. Riggs
Kenny Doughty – Young Ebenezer Scrooge
Laura Fraser – Belle
Celia Imrie – Mrs. Bennett
Claire Slater – Martha Cratchit
Tim Potter – Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come

Scrooge- Aside from the Jim Carrey version Patrick Stewart looks the most like Scrooge in the book. He is supposed to have a pointed noise and for me the bald head screams a low maintenance cold Scrooge. In the book Scrooge is described as:

“Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice. A frosty rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin. He carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his office in the dog-days; and didn’t thaw it one degree at Christmas.

External heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge. No warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him. No wind that blew was bitterer than he, no falling snow was more intent upon its purpose, no pelting rain less open to entreaty. Foul weather didn’t know where to have him. The heaviest rain, and snow, and hail, and sleet, could boast of the advantage over him in only one respect.”

For me Stewart has the pointed nose, shrivelled cheeks, stiff gait and grating voice. It’s so much fun to see something so close to Dickens original vision. I like that he does seem to love his work but there is no attempt to soften him. This makes the redemption feel all the more real and palatable, like a true conversion. My favorite Scrooge’s are one’s that mirror the conversion of Paul in the Bible. He may be my favorite Scrooge…

Differences- Honestly there aren’t any differences from the book. They even include the lighthouse scene that I don’t believe is in any other Christmas Carol movie. I’ve always thought it was a shame because it is one of the most poetic parts of the book”

“The Spirit did not tarry here, but bade Scrooge hold his robe, and passing on above the moor, sped—whither? Not to sea? To sea. To Scrooge’s horror, looking back, he saw the last of the land, a frightful range of rocks, behind them; and his ears were deafened by the thundering of water, as it rolled and roared, and raged among the dreadful caverns it had worn, and fiercely tried to undermine the earth.

Built upon a dismal reef of sunken rocks, some league or so from shore, on which the waters chafed and dashed, the wild year through, there stood a solitary lighthouse. Great heaps of sea-weed clung to its base, and storm-birds—born of the wind one might suppose, as sea-weed of the water—rose and fell about it, like the waves they skimmed.

But even here, two men who watched the light had made a fire, that through the loophole in the thick stone wall shed out a ray of brightness on the awful sea. Joining their horny hands over the rough table at which they sat, they wished each other Merry Christmas in their can of grog; and one of them: the elder, too, with his face all damaged and scarred with hard weather, as the figure-head of an old ship might be: struck up a sturdy song that was like a Gale in itself”

That’s just beautiful and they do it in such a touching way here. Tim starts singing Silent Night and then we see the lighthouse men singing Silent Night, men on a ship, coal miners. I wish I could find a clip because I really love it.

Aside from that everything is straight from the book.

Strengths- It reminds me in it’s look and feel of the great BBC miniseries North and South (my favorite book), Little Dorrit, Great Expectations and more. The lighting, costumes, sets are a beautiful palate and it’s just a pleasant picture to look at.

The cast is uniformly strong with the Cratchit family being one of my favorites of any version. It feels like a poor family (unlike say the Reginald Owens version) but it feels like an actual family. They have chemistry together and there is a great warmth to the scenes.

Belle is very pretty. At the party she has a beautiful yellow dress and then when the break up happens we see the change in her and she is no longer in bright clothing. At the party she is dancing in the snow happy and then she says goodbye in a snowstorm and it is just so lovingly shot and acted.

Dominic West is very good as Fred and there again is a warmth to him that seems hard to resist. He’s not as perfectly perky as some versions.

There is a beautiful moment when Fred and friends are playing their games and Present wants to leave but Scrooge looks at it longingly ‘can we stay another moment. I haven’t played a game in so long’. I found that very real and touching almost like a kid looking in a shop window longing for the great toys inside. It reminds me of the men who dine with Christ not knowing it is Him and they plead with Him to tarry with them a little bit longer.

The ending feels like a real religious conversion. And Stewart laughs the way a man would probably laugh at such a moment. Most Crazy Scrooge’s don’t feel natural to the character but this does. Almost more like a sneeze that he can’t help but let out.

Scrooge goes to church at the end which I always appreciate because it shows it was not just a conversion to a pleasant holiday but that Scrooge has accepted the proclamation of Tiny Tim and embraced Christ. It’s hard to believe this was a made for cable TV movie in 90s. It looks much better than that.

The score by Stephen Warbeck is perfect. One of my favorites. It’s not trying to be a horror movie with over the top slides and scales but just a subtle, simple score punctuated by First Noel and God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman (and Silent Night as I mentioned) at just the right moments.

Weaknesses- The Fezziwig scene is not my favorite. It reminds me more of the Thénardiers in Les Mis than Fezziwigs. They aren’t evil like Thenardiers but just their costumes and boisterousness is overdone. The dancing in the scene is great but just not my favorite Fezziwig’s. A little too foppish. This is after all supposed to be a successful businessman.

Past and Future could have been better. Future is your standard grim reaper puppet character and Past by Joel Gray just feels off to me. A little too cold and collected. Maybe even too soft spoken.

But all of that are small quibbles in an extremely satisfying picture. Bravo to all involved for creating something truly memorable and that is a favorite of many people. If you want to get a feel for the book without reading it this is the best one by a long shot in that regard.

Five Great Christmas Films…

December 6, 2014 | Rachel's Reviews

Here’s a fun little post this gentleman gives 5 of his favorite holiday films. I enjoy all his picks and nice variety.

Boy Meets World

December 6, 2014 | Rachel's Reviews

Tonight on the Disney channel they had a special episode of Girl Meets World that reunited my favorite TV show characters Boy Meets World . Girl Meets World is a spinoff with Cory and Topanga and their 2 kids. They’ve done such a good job with the spin off and I look forward to it every week. Tonight Shawn Hunter and the parents were back.
Anyway, here is a blog I did on my favorite Boy Meets World episodes.

Scrooge 17: Christmas Carol 1938 Reginald Owen

December 6, 2014December 6, 2014 | Rachel's Reviews

Other than Alistair Sim this version with Reginald Owen of Christmas Carol is probably the most well known traditional retelling. It’s a fine version but not one of my favorites mostly for a few odd choices it makes.

You guys know I am pretty open minded when it comes to interpretations of this story. It’s a novella so every filmmaker is going to make it their own but in this case I feel the changes slow down the picture and even though it is only an hour and 9 minutes it feels long.

Trailer: (Introduction by Lionel Barrymore who was famous for his Scrooge on Broadway and originally offered the part )

Cast:

Reginald Owen as Ebenezer Scrooge
Gene Lockhart as Bob Cratchit
Kathleen Lockhart as Mrs. Cratchit
Terry Kilburn as Tiny Tim Cratchit
Barry MacKay as Fred (Scrooge’s Nephew)
Lynne Carver as Bess (Fred’s fiance)
Bunny Beatty as Martha Cratchit (uncredited)
June Lockhart as Belinda Cratchit (uncredited)
John O’Day as Peter Cratchit (uncredited)
Leo G. Carroll as Marley’s Ghost
Ann Rutherford as Spirit of Christmas Past
Lionel Braham as Spirit of Christmas Present
D’Arcy Corrigan as Spirit of Christmas Future

Scrooge- Reginald Owen is fine as Scrooge. He is kind of like the Scott version, a bit softer than the best versions in my opinion but perfectly fine performance.

Differences: (There are a lot in this one)

It takes a long time to get to the spirits. Again it’s only 69 minutes and it takes almost 30 to get to Past.

Big difference is Scrooge fires Cratchit because of a snowball fight and his wanting the day off. Cratchit then spends the rest of the movie overcompensating to his family and lying about it. I wonder if this was a Depression era influence? Losing your job may have seemed like a tougher thing than having a terrible one?

We also learn that Fred and his girl Bess are not married because of financial worries. They hope Scrooge will help them to be married. This doesn’t really make sense as he is the only child and surely some money from Scrooge’s father would have gone to Fan? Given Bess is a simple girl with no dowry I don’t see why marriage would have been a problem. It seems a strange problem to create for the story.

Another difference is when Marley comes he waves at 3 men to come and get the intruder. Again this just stalls the story and hurts the momentum.

Past takes Scrooge to see his childhood self, a part which can be skipped on occasion. And we actually see Scrooge crying for a long bit, which I found moving (it’s only like 5 seconds but it feels long and heart wrenching).

Then we get to Fezziwig’s and Scrooge is still a young lad so there is no Belle romance, no betrayal. Again a strange choice. In this film Scrooge’s betrayal is to Fred and Bess not to a love of his life. Not quite as compelling.

Present comes and instead of going to Cratchit’s or Fred’s right away we go to church. I normally like when the religious elements of the story are highlighted but this scene doesn’t really add anything but for Scrooge to see that Bess and Fred really are in love and to get some pretty music (a great boys choir sings).

Then we have Fred and boys skating outside the church and more with Fred and Bess.

And Present takes him to the Cratchit’s where we get a long sequence of them getting the goose, cooking, eating, talking. Cratchit tells Martha he has been sacked. It just feels slow.

The last major difference is after Present instead of immediately meeting Future Scrooge is back in his bed smiling and there is a montage of his daydreams about Christmas and how wonderful it is.

This feels too soon and makes the final victory at the cemetery less convincing because he already seemed converted a few minutes earlier. If he has already decided to change and embrace Christmas than why make him go to the cemetery?

Strengths- I don’t want to be too hard on it because it’s not unwatchable by any means. The acting is good, it is shot well and the restoration is clear and crisp in the version I saw.

The music is fine, all the sets look good and it has a pleasant feel about it. I enjoyed watching it but it just isn’t my favorite.

The Tiny Tim is excellent and has a beautiful singing voice and there is really only one song ‘O Come All Ye Faithful’ sung at the church and I enjoyed the number.

Reginald Owens pours his heart into the role and he is fine as Scrooge.

Weaknesses- I said most of them. They just added the wrong things which make it feel slow even though it is not a long movie. Losing Belle in favor of Bess and Fred doesn’t work and makes the conversion feel less personal to Scrooge.

Like I said you can tell it is a lovingly produced film. They took some chances and I respect that but for me most of them didn’t quite work. Still, if you end up watching it you won’t be miserable. You’ll enjoy it just fine.

Orson Welles as a very young Scrooge, on radio

December 6, 2014 | Rachel's Reviews

Fun review of the Orson Welles radio version of Christmas Carol.

Scrooge 16: Scrooged

December 5, 2014 | Rachel's Reviews

I always say with comedies you either think something is funny and laugh or you don’t. Comedy is so subjective and I’ve had too many experiences to count where I thought something was hilarious and shown it to a friend and get only an awkward courtesy laugh from them in response. You’d think what is humorous would be more universal but I have found that to be almost never the case.

So here we have the most comedic take on Christmas Carol, the anti-Carol, you might say- 1988’s Scrooged staring Bill Murray. I think it is a very funny movie. It lags in a few spots but it keeps me laughing consistently for a hearty recommendation. If you don’t find it funny there isn’t much else to recommend about the film.

Trailer:

Cast:

This movie has some of the most hilarious cameos of any movie I’ve seen. Some of the best laughs are people not on the official cast list.

Bill Murray as Francis Xavier “Frank” Cross
Karen Allen as Claire Phillips
John Forsythe as Lew Hayward
John Glover as Brice Cummings
Bobcat Goldthwait as Eliot Loudermilk
David Johansen as the Ghost of Christmas Past
Carol Kane as the Ghost of Christmas Present
Robert Mitchum as Preston Rhinelander
Nicholas Phillips as Calvin Cooley
Michael J. Pollard as Herman
Alfre Woodard as Grace Cooley
Mabel King as Gramma
John Murray as James Cross
Wendie Malick as Wendie Cross
Brian Doyle-Murray as Mr. Cross, Frank and James’s father
Joel Murray as Guest

Scrooge: Bill Murray plays Scrooge who goes by the name of Frank Cross in this and he is great as always. He pulls off the grumpy corporate executive probably better than the more tender scenes but his deadpan delivery is very funny.

Differences- This is definitely a lose adaptation designed to get laughs but there is 3 spirits, a Marley figure, a grumpy Scrooge character and a beleaguered assistant, so some elements remain in the story.

John Forsythe is actually pretty creepy as Lew Hayward with some decent special effects. They use the elevator very cleverly in the movie and Murray is filming a telecast of Christmas Carol while his own version is occurring, which brought some good laughs. My personal favorite scene is when the censor objects to a wardrobe in the telecast. Then there is a running gag where she gets hit in the head by various items and as someone who finds Hollywood’s attempt to censor itself with the MPAA to be a total joke I found it very funny.

Christmas Past is a cab driver played by David Johansen and he is nuts but in a humorous way.

Christmas Present is my favorite played by Carol Kane and she finds ways of injuring Scrooge both on purpose and by accident. Haven’t we all wanted to slap Scrooge in the face in one version or another? And it’s always funny when someone who sounds sweet and looks cute actually has a temper. She talks all sweet and then slaps him as hard as she can and that’s just funny.

Karen Allen from Raiders of the Lost Arc plays the Belle character who wants to serve others while Frank only thinks of himself. They had good chemistry together and I bought them as a couple.

Christmas Future isn’t an actor but a prop from the production going on that ends up in the elevator. He has Ignorance and Want inside his belly in a creative way.

In this version Fred is actually Frank’s Brother John and Alfre Woodard (who I always like) is the Cratchit character named Grace Cooley. She has a son who is a mute and refuses to talk to anyone.

But my favorite performance is Bobcat Goldthwait as Eliot Loudermilk. He is fired by Frank after offering some timid criticism of his rather grisly Scrooge promo. He comes back to get vengeance on Frank and it is hilarious. It feels like a rif on Die Hard but that came out the same year so I guess it is just making fun of all the over-the-top action movies of the 80s.

Strengths- As I said the interweaving stories of the production and Frank’s visitations are very clever. Most of the gags made me laugh so I guess that means it’s a successful comedy!

Eliot Loudermilk, Carol Kane, Alfre Woodard, David Johansen and John Forsythe are all great fun.

Murray is a funny as always and it’s all directed competently by Richard Donner of Superman fame.

Weakness- I guess a weakness is it doesn’t really give much to enjoy if you don’t find it funny but not all movies can be everything. It’s definitely non-traditional and a few of the jokes are more designed for an 80s audience and are perhaps a bit dated.

Other than that I really enjoyed it. So bah humbug and have some good laughs!